The Human Emperor
chapter-829

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The six hundred men Xu Keyi had brought with him had all served as training partners to the Wushang Cavalry. They were true elites, cavalry themselves and familiar with all the various tactics and techniques used on horseback. Although they were few in number, they were extremely powerful, and experts at dealing with cavalry.

They were clever and agile, never engaging with cavalry in a direct confrontation, so even though they were outnumbered by the Turks, they were able to avoid any serious injuries. In addition, such was their strength that they were all like Xu Keyi, cleaving through the Turks and their horses, armor and all, with just a single blow!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Wootz Steel swords sliced through the darkness, playing out the eerie dance of death, the only sound that of sharp edges cutting through flesh and the thud of bodies hitting the ground. "Aaaah!" Corpses covered the ground in front of the Qixi Armory and screams began to fill the air.

"Spread the oil! Use the oil to deal with them!"

"Light the fire! Burn these Tang to death!"

The Turks were not lacking in quick-witted and intelligent soldiers, and the eight hundred warriors quickly began to open up the leather bags and throw them into the air, spraying Xu Keyi's men with Arabian oil. Meanwhile, other Turks were ready with fire starters. With a whoosh, they ignited them and threw them toward the oil.

"You've gone mad! This oil was meant for destroying the Qixi Armory!"

"It's too late for that! If we don't kill them, we'll all die here!"

One Turk tried to stop his comrades, but he was quickly cut off. The fire starters, little embers of fire in the night, flew toward Xu Keyi's men. But while still several feet away, they were blocked by an invisible wall of energy, burning away in the air, unable to get close to the Tang.

"Profound Martial realm!"

The eight hundred Turks felt their hearts grow cold. Profound Martial experts had sturdy barriers of Stellar Energy around him, so the Arabian oil would find it very difficult to pose a threat to them.

"Hmph, you only realize this now?" Xu Keyi sneered. "Everyone, hear my order! Kill them all!"

With this order, another several dozen Turkic warriors were felled. But while this intense battle ensued, no one noticed a group of Turkic soldiers stealthily working around the battle and heading to the gate. However, around one zhang from the gate, they noticed something strange. No matter where they went, the Turks would always end up coming back to their original spot.

The Qixi Armory gate one zhang away seemed to be in another time and space. No matter how they tried, they couldn't get close.

"What's going on? Why can't we get over there?"

"What spirits are at work here? How did we get back here?"

"What evil arts have those Tang used! This is too strange!"

"Don't worry about that! Just charge over on our horses!"

"Ah! I hit the wall."

The Turks felt their hairs standing on end. They had used all sorts of methods to try and get into the armory, yet the gate continued to stand there, impossible to approach. These warriors of the Turkic steppe were true soldiers, and even if their heads were to drop to the ground, they would never crease their brow, yet this situation was simply too strange and impossible to understand using common sense.

They had used all their strength, but none of it had been of any use.

Hmph, the armory is such an important thing, so did you really think that we would only have six hundred soldiers here to deal with you?

Xu Keyi had just cleaved through another Turkic warrior when he heard these comments, and he couldn't help but chortle to himself. The marquis was a god of planning, and he had already made arrangements against all of Agudu Lan's strategies. After all, the Qixi Armory was not some toy, and it could not be left undefended.

Elder Fang and Elder Du had installed an illusory formation in front of the Qixi Armory gate. Everything would look normal from a distance, but as one approached, they would be caught in the formation and led elsewhere, which resulted in those Turks constantly running into walls. The 'gate' that they saw wasn't even the real gate.

And even if they used pure strength to push through, they would fall into another befuddling formation. Under the influence of this formation, what they believed to be a straight-line charge would actually lead them on a slant. Xu Keyi had no idea how those elders had managed to pull it off, but he had asked Elder Du and Elder Fang to let him try it out one day. On that day, Xu Keyi had come out with a swollen face, his eyes unfocused and his head dizzy, with the rest of the day spent vomiting.

Those Turkic cavalry were weaker than him, so it would be more strange if they actually managed to find the gate.

"Brothers, let's go! Kill all these Turks and let them understand the power of the Tang!" Xu Keyi called out.

He once more took the lead, his Wootz Steel sword once more cleaving a horse from head to hoof. Clang! Just when Xu Keyi was about to slay his twentieth Turk, there was a metallic whistle, and a strange golden saber struck the spine of the Wootz Steel sword, jolting it away and preventing yet another horse from being slain.

"An expert!" Xu Keyi yelled out in alarm, his eyes flying open. Someone who could accurately strike the spine of his sword while he had been attacking at such high speed was definitely no ordinary warrior.

"You scoundrel, your opponent is me! Don't bully these grunts!"

An icy voice, speaking in awkward Han, came from overhead. Xu Keyi looked up and saw a vicious Turkic commander, equipped with wolf armor and savagely glaring at him. In comparison to the surrounding Turkic cavalry, he was like a crane amongst chickens, his strength clearly a level above the rest.

"Ha, how interesting. If you want to fight, then come!"

Xu Keyi laughed, elatedly gripping his sword with both hands and suddenly exploding into a flurry of attacks aimed at the Turkic commander. A few seconds later, Cheng Sanyuan, Su Shixuan, Chen Bin and the other officers faced their own opponents.

Clangclangclang! Swords twinkled and gleamed in the darkness as the two sides battled; roars, screams, and neighs created a single discordant din. Meanwhile, the nearby Qixi Protectorate headquarters remained silent and pitch-black, as if everyone within had silently agreed to act like they heard nothing.

While Xu Keyi's side had fallen into a stalemate, Wang Chong's side was completely one-sided…

Neigh!

Rumble!

Warhorse after warhorse crashed to the ground, the impacts ringing throughout the battlefield. The forty-two hundred soldiers under Agudu Lan were no match against the Wushang Cavalry, crumbling to pieces in the face of the Arrow Formation. In a single clash, more than eighteen hundred soldiers had died, which made Agudu Lan's heart bleed and troubled him more than his own situation.

This had been a raid, not an actual battle, so Agudu Lan had not brought along his entire force, only his elites. Even so, five thousand was quite a large force for a raid. However, Agudu Lan had never expected that his trusted elites would be so powerless against Wang Chong.

Although he had known that Dayan Mangban's White Braves had been completely wiped out at the battle of the triangular gap, only after truly battling with these Tang did he understand what Dayan Mangban had been facing.

Too powerful! Too powerful! Only the Khagan's elite Sanmi Army, Wolf God Army, and Golden Tent Army could be a match for them!

Agudu Lan felt like a storm had swept through his mind, leaving behind shock and turmoil. He knew that those several thousand cavalry in Wushang's City of Steel were powerful, but not this powerful. These were not something his soldiers could handle. If this continued, all his men would be wiped out.

"Retreat! Quickly! All soldiers withdraw!"

Agudu Lan was both furious and alarmed. His dantian exploded, pushing back his five attackers, and he let out a shrill whistle. Phweet! The sound traveled deep into the darkness. Awoooo! A mournful wolf howl responded, and in an instant, more and more wolf howls began to rise.

A wolf pack! This Agudu Lan really did bring wolves to do battle!

Wang Chong heard the howls of the approaching wolf pack, and his eyes flashed for a moment. The Turks were the most unique of the Great Tang's opponents on its border. Aside from ordinary soldiers, they also often brought many wolves to do battle with them.

Although a wolf wasn't anything to fear for a fully-armored soldier, things were different once the number of wolves reached a certain level. Thus, when actually battling with the Turks, one could not simply compare the number of soldiers on both sides, a fact which gave a headache to many of the soldiers on the northern border.

Although Wang Chong had been the Grand Marshal of the world, by the time he had risen to this position, the power of the Great Steppe had completely declined, leaving him no opportunity to fight with them. Thus, this was his first time seeing wolf packs used in actual battle.

"Ha, it seems like you've prepared rather well. Unfortunately, it's still useless!" Wang Chong sneered. If the supreme Wushang Cavalry could not even deal with a wolf pack, then their reputation was truly wasted.

Boom! Just when Agudu Lan was about to flee, Wang Chong shot forward and joined with Elder Fang, Elder Du, Li Siye, and Huang Botian to swiftly bring him back down.

Wang Chong laughed and said, "Haha, Lord Yabgu, I haven't agreed to it, so why are you in such a rush to leave? A single visit is so rare that you must stay a night. After all, I've even made a wooden stele for you."